New York students cause outrage with comic skit satirizing domestic violence

High school students created a stir when they made light of domestic violence in a comic skit at a high school pep rally skit in small New York town.

The three white male students from Waverly High School covered their faces in make-up to make themselves appear black and parodied the incident when singer Chris Brown assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna, according to the Huffington Post. After the 2009 attack, Rihanna had visible injuries and was hospitalized; Brown was charged with felony assault.

The students were participating in the school’s Mr. Waverly competition, in which the skit with the loudest applause wins. The performance was approved by administrators before the pep rally.

Students later posted photos on Facebook and now some adults in the community are outraged. They’re saying the skit was racist and sexist and that the students wrongly portrayed domestic violence as a light matter.

But many Waverly students are defending their classmates and saying the media has blown this incident out of proportion. “It’s complete bogus that people were offended by it,” Ryan Bronson, a 19-year-old graduate who attended the pep rally on Friday, told CNN. Bronson says kids were laughing hysterically during the performance.